Susan LittleAs co-chair of the EAG Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, my goal is to help the society accelerate its efforts to improve the representation of diverse groups within the geochemical community. Like many geochemists, the EAG has played an important role in my scientific and personal development, particularly via the Goldschmidt conference. At Goldschmidt, all the great strengths of the geochemical community are on display: ground-breaking science, active social and professional networking, mentoring of the next generation. It’s also at Goldschmidt that some areas of improvement have been laid bare: a lack of diversity in presenters, for example, or in award winners. I am very conscious of my own privilege, which includes attending Goldschmidt on many occasions. I look forward to working with the talented team members on the EAG DEI committee to enable improved access to the discipline of geochemistry, worldwide.
Amy RichesAs co-Chair of the EAG’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee I am thrilled to be working with an impassioned team; bringing geochemists together with shared purpose and assisting the wider community in understanding and tackling bias and barriers that impede both marginalised people and excellent science. As a planetary scientist, geologist, educator, writer / storyteller and editor, I seek to understand how habitable Earth-like planets form and evolve. Are we alone in the universe? With respect to DEI matters I am privileged due to being white, educated in the UK, and having gained from ample top-notch laboratory access in Europe and North America while working collaboratively with high-profile thinkers in various further countries during my career. I’m a woman, have been unwell, come from a humble background, and I’ve gained from a diversified career. Regarding some current unhealthy aspects of scientific working climates (e.g., exploitative practices alongside sometimes horrifying experiences of bias, discrimination and harassment), a senior figure once remarked - in a moment of uncharacteristic defeatism - “Unfortunately, it is the same everywhere”. This I do not accept. Such unhappy outlooks among other people - as well as impacts on mental health and wellbeing - add fuel to my motivation to make positive contributions to EAG’s DEI Committee at its founding. Science and discovery should serve the good of humanity and must include every kind of person. Collective energy and efforts will help to shape a better and more inviting future for science and for all scientists. Our committee calls for everyone to come together to realise truly diverse and inclusive tomorrows as well as the dynamism only then possible. The consequence of such invigoration is in both the greater and the unexpected discoveries that arise through the richness of difference.
Pallavi AnandI arrived in the UK, leaving my home country for the first time, to do a PhD. It was a culture and climate shock but also pretty exciting times to be studying at a diverse University town (almost felt like living in a bubble). My second move, in yet another foreign land, when I experienced what it feels like to be an immigrant. However, my passion for science and providing opportunities to the next generation have helped me keep going, particularly when I am undervalued. I have come this far by taking opportunities and persevering with overcoming barriers. I have learned a lot from my wide educational experiences in life: I have attended a small village school in India where I had to bring my own sack for sitting as well as having been at a University where someone came to clean my room and make my bed! With these diverse set of life experiences, I hope to connect with people and contribute to EAG’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Sandra ArndtAs a first-generation university graduate, a woman and a mother to two young children, I am not foreign to some of the challenges and barriers that currently exist in our community. I strongly believe that effective (in)formal mentorship, creating more welcoming environments and setting up more inclusive and supportive organizational structures are key to tearing down these barriers. I see my contribution to the EAG-DEI group as an opportunity to advance these aspects and help build a more diverse, more equal, more accessible and more inclusive community. But, apart from this, it is also an excellent opportunity to educate myself and to become a better colleague and mentor myself.
Pieter BotsI am a gender non-conforming/queer gay geochemist and environmental mineralogist, originally from the Netherlands, but since 2008 based in the UK and since 2016 in Scotland. Throughout my career at multiple institutes I have been involved in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees. Also, at these institutes I have always been open about being gay, and subsequently I have experienced (and noticed) the best and the worst in dealing with (and rewarding) diverse staff and students. I found it specifically unsettling that some of the worst behaviour has come from senior academics who “shout” about their activities to increase diversity within academia. This has ranged from proposing only male academics for advisory boards, to telling (me) to just hide being gay and gender non-conforming when visiting the UAE. Since, by being open about my struggles to others, I have also become much more aware of the disadvantages experienced by other minoritised communities. Because of my own experiences and the stories others have told me, I have become more invigorated to actually achieve meaningful and lasting change within academia (and the geosciences specifically), not just with respect to sexuality and gender identity, but also as an (active) ally to ethic/racial minorities. I hope by being an active member of the EAG-DEI-WG I can help to achieve this goal.
Ernest Chi FruErnest was born in Cameroon. He obtained a PhD in Geomicrobiology from Gothenburg University, Sweden. Ernest was a Marie Curie fellow and a recipient of an ERC starting grant from the European Research Council. Studying and working in 8 academic institutions spread across Africa, Europe and North America, has exposed Ernest to diverse cultures and societies. He currently is a senior lecturer at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, where he is the director of Postgraduate Research Studies. Being a first generation immigrant has afforded Ernest a unique perspective into life and living in an all-black society and the challenges of being a minority person in a western setting. He notes that discrimination exists in all societies. In Africa, tribalism and linguistic, sexual orientation and gender discrimination are rife. In western societies, chronic and systemic racism and religious discrimination are the most prominent, while gender and sexual orientation bias remain a major problem. Ernest’s experience with discrimination contextualised to these different societies and cultures is a major force for joining the EAG-DEI Committee. He seeks to lift up the voices of minority people at the fringes of society by focusing light on the biases that hinder exploration of their ingenuity, talent and potential to contribute towards humanity’s collective progress.
Jabrane LabidiAs the son of immigrants in France, I have experienced first-hand the challenges of establishing a new life in an unfamiliar culture and as a somewhat visible minority. My parents were not given the opportunities that I received. Particularly my mother experienced unfair treatment due to the specific intersection of her ethnicity and gender, an Algerian woman in France. I owe my academic achievement to those who saw through my differences and provided the extra help required for me to succeed. However, the field of Earth Science is arguably the most gated of all STEMs. Other STEM fields are not even particularly inclusive. As a North African man, my activism for justice comes from a place of solidarity with my black and brown peers. In light of recent and not-so-recent events, particularly targeting our black peers in and out of academia, I take my contribution to the EAG’s DEI Committee as a chance to do the work to ensure our exploitative model in academia is curbed by the inclusion of diverse communities. My activism also focuses on indigenous people robbed of not only their land and self-determination, but also of their voice in academic circles. I am proud to coordinate community activities and provoke accelerated change with my peers within the EAG DEI Committee.
Zimin LiI moved from China to Belgium for my PhD studies from October, 2014 to April, 2019 at the UCLouvain, where I was awarded and funded by Aspirant-FNRS of Belgium, a highly competitive PhD fellow. Simultaneously, I was awarded a 2019 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad, which is the highest award given by Chinese government to the graduate student’s study overseas. As a self-financed student abroad at the soil lab of UCLouvain, I have experienced first-hand the challenges of establishing a new life in an unfamiliar culture and as a somewhat visible minority. I was the first person who received the highest education in my family, despite that my parents, brothers and sisters were not offered the opportunities that I received. I have some academic achievement to those who saw through my differences and provided the extra help required for me to succeed. But, the field of Soil Science arguably remains overlooked among all STEM, despite offering lots of services for land health and sustainable development. As a Chinese man, my activism for justice comes from a place of solidarity with my Asian and black peers. Based on the difference in culture, language and cognition, particularly targeting our Asian and black peers in and out of academia, I contribute my efforts to the EAG’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee as an opportunity to act all together to ensure that our exploitative model in Academic circles (especially in Master and PhD student) is inhibited by increasing the inclusion of diverse communities, creating a peaceful and healthy academic circle.
Johanna Marin CarbonneI am an assistant professor in geochemistry, and my parents were teachers in a small town of Brittany in France. I am well aware of my luck and privileges to be a highly educated woman. Anyway, along the path, I have witnessed and sometimes been the victim of discrimination and harassment behaviours. I have learned a lot from these various experiences but I don’t want to be silent anymore and I want to be a part of the current change to deeply transform STEM and Geochemistry to be a more diverse and inclusive field. Working in collaborative ways with diverse scientists is not only important for Science at large, but is also important to me personally. We learn so much from each other. I hope that we can build a more inclusive and welcoming community where we don’t have to erase or hide who we are as geochemists. “Alone we go faster but together we go further”.
Elena MatersI am a first-generation scientist of mixed heritage and citizenship and feel incredibly privileged to have lived in various countries, including for study and work over the last ten years. Nevertheless, there have been occasions when I was strongly reminded that I was an ‘outsider’ in language, culture or appearance, which at times in Belgium and France reverberated into my confidence and comfort in continuing to pursue research abroad. Luckily, having English as a native language often made it easier for me to build a support network and open doors to new opportunities, but I have seen hard-working peers from different backgrounds who have not been so fortunate. While change in the wider world might take time, through the EAG-DEI Committee I strive to eliminate barriers to anyone feeling a welcomed part of the geoscience community, pushing for greater equity and inclusion so that we all can be free to successfully follow and share our passion for our subjects.
Bryne NgwenyaAs a first generation university graduate from rural Malawi, I learnt early in life that success is not only about ability but more about opportunities. A 3rd cousin, in his first year as a primary school teacher “spotted my abilities” and took me under his wing. He remains to this day my role model, the giant whose shoulder provided a solid foundation for where I am today. I reminisce about those people who were brighter than me but didn’t have the same opportunities, and got married at the age of 16. I see now many able graduate students of colour who end up with no career in STEM, and I feel lucky and grateful to those people that have shown faith in me throughout my career.
Hence, I did not hesitate when I was asked to join the EAG-DEI Committee. Upon joining, I was immediately shocked to find that we couldn’t identify a single female black peer to join the group. Really? In 2020? Rectifying such Exclusions is sufficient motivation for me to work towards Inclusion, through creating opportunities for visibility of ALL under-represented groups. Without such visible role models, EAG’s pronouncements on DEI will soon become footnotes in the history of our subject. We can change that course.
Olivier PourretI am associate professor of geochemistry. My research interests include trace metal fractionation and particularly Rare Earth Elements and cobalt in low-temperature aqueous systems, from rock to water, soil and vegetation (i.e. the Critical Zone).
I advocate for Open Science, just Science done right, and get involved in various DEI initiatives, especially fighting against disability's discrimination since one of my son have a rare genetic disease. I am proud to join the EAG DEI working group.
Elias SamankassouMy engagement in the DEI Committee aims at one thing: making this page superfluous. Please help us make this happen soon.